Melbourne Bach Choir in Concert: Bach, Mozart and Mendelssohn

Melbourne Bach Choir’s first concert of the year features two glorious oratorios by J S Bach and short gems by Mozart and Mendelssohn, with four of Australia’s finest vocal soloists.

Program: J S Bach’s Easter Oratorio BWV 249; J S Bach’s Ascension Oratorio BWV 11; Mozart’s Litaniae Lauretanae K 109; Mendelssohn’s Jesu meine Freude

Composed for Easter Sunday 1725, Bach’s jubilant Easter Oratorio was later revised and slightly expanded – the version usually performed today. Bach apparently held the oratorio in high esteem and performed it several times. The opening chorus of his Ascension Oratorio “Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen” (“Praise God in His Realms”), reflects the triumphant joy of Christ’s Ascension, especially in the opening and closing choruses.  The festive scoring for the orchestra with trumpets and timpani heightens the effect in both works.

Mendelssohn, an early champion of J S Bach, deliberately chose Bach as his model for his eight chorale cantatas, and Jesu meine Freude follows closely Bach’s prototypes. It is composed in E minor, the same key as Bach’s setting.

Mozart’s Litaniae Lauretanae (Litany of Loreto) K 109 is an invocation to the Virgin Mary.  One of many liturgical works Mozart composed for Salzburg between his three journeys to Italy, it shows an astonishing mastery for a 15 year-old boy.  The Archbishop of Salzburg at the time mandated clear, simple and economical music, with avoidance of any operatic excess; but Mozart was able to work within these constraints to produce a moving work with alternating sections of joyful and poignant or sombre mood.

Melbourne Bach Choir & Orchestra
with Olivia Cranwell Soprano, Sally-Anne Russell Mezzo Soprano, Andrew Goodwin Tenor and Christopher Hillier Baritone.
Conductor and Artistic Director Rick Prakhoff

Sunday 21st April at 3pm

All Saints’ Anglican Church, 2 Chapel St, St Kilda East Vic 3182.

Bookings: www.trybooking.com/COXEZ